The Birkbeck School, London Mechanics' Institution.

Date:
1848]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Birkbeck School, London Mechanics' Institution. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Sons or Brothers of Members of the Institution may be admitted on the pay- ment of Four Shillings per quarter, or Fourpence per week. All other Pupils will be admitted at Six Shillings per quarter, or Sixpence per week. Pupils may be admitted at the half-quarter on the payment of the proportional subscription. The quarters commence on the first Mondays in the months of January, April, July, and October, the half-quarters at Six weeks after the commencement of the quarters. All Subscriptions to be paid in advance. It is expected that the parents will furnish all School Materials, except Reading Books, Drawing Paper, Pens and Ink. Applications to be addressed to Mr Runtz, Schoolmaster, London Mechanics’ Institution, Southampton Buildings, Ilolborn. W. MATTIEU WILLIAMS, Hon. Sec. Birkbeck School Committee. ■ - '• d i?nmr atr //T< ft S' xk-KC 'i— J v. /Iftj'ei. • L£> yyi •; *'■7;— / LETTER PRO^rMR WILLIAM LOVETT, IN EXPLANATION OF THE NATIONAL HALL SCHOOL, LONDON. 16 South Roiv, New Road, October 22, 1848. To George Combe, Esq. Dear SirI thank you kindly for the Prospectus you sent me of your in- tended School for the Children of the Working-Classes of Edinburgh. It is exceed- ingly gratifying to me to hear that practical steps are being taken to promote the crreat object of General Education, by one who, for so many years, has laboured so earnestly to promote sound and comprehensive views regarding the physical, mental, and moral nature of those who arc to be trained and educated. I earnestly hope that o-ood men of all grades of opinion will perceive the necessity of seconding your praise- worthy object, that of establishing a school, on the threshold of which no question shall be asked tending to exclude any of the great brotherhood of man ; a school where the children of Jew or Gentile may be taught those great laws of society and lessons of their nature as shall best tend to promote that social harmony, that peace and prosperity in society, we all so ardently desire. I hope, also, that my working- class brethren will especially appreciate your benevolent intentions, and will so aul and encourage you, as not only to lead to the triumphant establishment ot this one school, but to enable you to multiply and extend the blessing through every district of Scotland. The just education of the millions is peculiarly their important busi- ness. They have hitherto been oppressed, impoverished, and degraded, because they have been ignorant—ignorant of the undeveloped powers of their own nature igno- rant of those laws of society on which their prosperity, freedom, and happiness de- pend —and ignorant of the only safe, secure, and lasting means by which they can escape from the thraldom. Those means they may be assured they will find embodied in one word—Education ! Not the mere means and instruments of knowledge which are found in the school routine of reading, writing, and arithmetic, nor the mere teachings of creeds and sects; but such education as shall best develop their own na- ture cause them to understand and appreciate the laws and wonders of the universe and best qualify them to perform their duties as members of society and citizens of the state But while I would especially invoke the exertions of the working-classes on behalf of this grand object, because their welfare is so pressingly dependent on it, I could wish to see everything approximating to sectarian or class distinction carefully avoided in the establishment of those schools. Hence I would respectfully suggest to you and your friends, that the title you have adopted of Schools for the W orking-